Conn. Gun Debate Continues

Connecticut passed some of the strongest new gun-control restrictions in the U.S. earlier this month, but firearms owners in the state say the debate is far from over.

Gun-rights group Connecticut Citizens Defense League planned a rally Saturday in Hartford to protest the laws and is among groups preparing legal challenges to them, though the league's representatives declined to discuss the nature of their challenge.

"We are not going away," said Scott Wilson, president of the Groton-based group, which formed in 2009 and says it has more than 3,000 members. "We are really, really upset with how our state is treating us. We feel like we are being treated like children."

On April 4, Gov. Dannel Malloy signed a package of new gun laws in response to the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults. The restrictions require background checks on all firearm purchases, ban the sale of ammunition magazines with more than 10 rounds and expand a ban on the sales of assault-style weapons.

The Sandy Hook shooting also was the impetus Friday behind New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's proposed legislative package that included an expansion of existing gun laws, mandatory mental-health screenings and the requirement that juveniles get permission from their parents or guardians before they are allowed to buy violent video games.

The proposals include requiring the use of mental-health records as part of background-checks that are sometimes conducted when someone buys a gun. Mr. Christie also said he wants to make it easier for doctors or the courts to involuntary commit "potentially dangerous" patients, and offer flexibility in treating and tracking such patients.

Some of the proposals by Mr. Christie, a Republican, echoed those in a report last week by a panel he appointed after the Sandy Hook shootings.

In Connecticut, even as opinion polls show broad public support for the new laws, gun-rights groups said they unfairly punished law-abiding firearms owners and won't stop violence.

So far, one lawsuit has been filed—by a group representing disabled gun owners that claims that bans on certain assault-style weapons discriminate against the physically disabled. The group says some banned features, such as certain kinds of grips, make some rifles easier for disabled people to use.

Mr. Malloy, a Democrat, has said he believes the new laws would survive any challenge.

Apart from lawsuits, gun makers are also trying to figure out how to comply with the laws so they can keep selling in Connecticut. Stag Arms, a manufacturer in New Britain, Conn., that employs 200 people, makes 20 different versions of the popular AR-15 rifle. The sale of all of those are now banned in the state. Authorities have said an AR-15 rifle was used in the Sandy Hook attack.

Mark Malkowski, president of Stag Arms, said the company was developing prototypes of what would be legal versions of that rifle. "In order to comply with the law, we are looking at different modifications," Mr. Malkowski said.

Andrew Doba, spokesman for Mr. Malloy, said the administration would work with the state attorney general's office to defend the new gun laws.

"Let's not forget that this has happened before. In prior instances where Connecticut has passed common sense restrictions on firearms, there have been challenges," Mr. Doba said. "They have all been unsuccessful."

Bristol, Conn., gun maker PTR Industries has already said it would leave the state due to the new gun laws, and Stag Arms was weighing offers from more than 20 states inviting the company to relocate, Mr. Malkowski said.

"The offers have been pouring in," he said. "Connecticut is my home. I was born and raised here. I would prefer to stay in Connecticut, but if the brand gets too damaged from staying here…I don't have any choice but to leave."

Gun-control advocates said public safety outweighed economic concerns. "I don't want to have a conversation about jobs when we are talking about the safety of our families," said Nancy Lefkowitz of March for Change, which supports stronger gun-control laws.

Ms. Lefkowitz said her group was preparing to revisit the topic of gun violence reduction in next year's legislative session. "This is going to be a sustained marathon, a sustained fight," Ms. Lefkowitz said.

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